Author: Hannah Harrington
Release Date: November 22nd, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 322
Edition: Paperback
Cover Judge: It's nice! I like the colors.
Cover Judge: It's nice! I like the colors.
Quote Choice: I love this quote; reminds me of John Green's most recent Thoughts From Places.
Source: For Review (Harlequin Teen Panel)
Source: For Review (Harlequin Teen Panel)
Goodreads: Link
When her older sister commits suicide and her divorcing parents decide to divide the ashes, Harper Scott takes her sister's urn to the one place June always wanted to go: California. On the road with her best friend, plus an intriguing guy with a mysterious connection to June, Harper discovers truths about her sister, herself and life.
So Saving June! This book is real, raw, and Harrington has the kind of writing that really speaks to you while you're reading.
Saving June is about a girl called Harper whose older sister commits suicide. She decides that staying in a urn on top of the fireplace isn't what June would've wanted (while simultaneously being plagued by the thought that she didn't actually know June, who she thought was perfect, at all) and takes a roadtrip to scatter her ashes in the Pacific ocean along with her best friend and a boy named Jake who seems to know June really well even if they never seemed to be friends.
With that of sort, you know how this is going to go down. Now, the first half of the book didn't really pack the sort of emotional punch I was expecting. Broken kids going on a road trip? She got that to a T. But it wasn't until around the middle-end when you really get to see Harper in her raw, real state. She's angry, she's sad, she's feeling all these things at once and the author does a great job getting into her head and laying it out on the page.
Also, music lovers? This is seriously the good for you. Jake is a huge music buff and while I had some problems with him around the end, he was good to read about. The romance between Jake and Harper was one of my favorite parts really: not because it was sweet but because it was realistic. It was two very broken people trying to find some solace in each other but damn, are there some problems along the way.
As for other characters, I really hated her aunt. Just...it's natural for me to hate adults who don't listen to teenagers and are seriously awful. As for her mom, I'm pretty neutral in that sense. She's not in the book a lot but you get Harper's perspective on her mother, which isn't exactly the best opinion. And finally we have Laney, who didn't impress me very much. I caught all her plot twists way before they happened so that took some of the fun out of it.
In the end, I recommend it!
Happy Reading!
